X-Git-Url: https://git.librecmc.org/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=4fbd631f602d75bbdaa27c485e3a15b653c5e0f8;hb=0bd0257fe0fb3835af056ec933b010aad2722f93;hp=f4d642f15b0d711698d0c855593b7de1c714c84b;hpb=c49960189a04b73e033016bd0f43fbb950f800e1;p=oweals%2Fbusybox.git diff --git a/README b/README index f4d642f15..4fbd631f6 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,26 +1,202 @@ -Please see the LICENSE file for copyright information. +Please see the LICENSE file for details on copying and usage. +Please refer to the INSTALL file for instructions on how to build. -Busybox is a multicall binary used to provide a minimal subset of -POSIX style commands and specialized functions. +What is busybox: -It is geared toward the very small, i.e. boot floppies, embedded- -systems, etc. Specifically it is used in the Debian Rescue/Install -system (which caused the original busybox to be made), the Linux Router -Project, and others. + BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single + small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the + utilities you usually find in bzip2, coreutils, file, findutils, gawk, grep, + inetutils, modutils, net-tools, procps, sed, shadow, sysklogd, sysvinit, tar, + util-linux, and vim. The utilities in BusyBox often have fewer options than + their full-featured cousins; however, the options that are included provide + the expected functionality and behave very much like their larger + counterparts. -As of version 0.20 there is a version number. : ) -Also as of version 0.20, BB is modularized to allow an easy build of -only the BB parts you need, to reduce binary size. + BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in + mind, both to produce small binaries and to reduce run-time memory usage. + Busybox is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude + commands (or features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize + embedded systems; to create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a + Linux kernel. Busybox (usually together with uClibc) has also been used as + a component of "thin client" desktop systems, live-CD distributions, rescue + disks, installers, and so on. -Edit the file busybox.def.h and comment out the parts you do not need -using C++ comments (//) + BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small system, + both embedded environments and more full featured systems concerned about + space. Busybox is slowly working towards implementing the full Single Unix + Specification V3 (http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/), but isn't + there yet (and for size reasons will probably support at most UTF-8 for + internationalization). We are also interested in passing the Linux Test + Project (http://ltp.sourceforge.net). -After the build is complete a busybox.links file is generated to allow -you to easily make the sym/hard links to the busybox binary. +---------------- -Note the modular system is Makefile based, and purposely very -simplistic. It does no dependency checking. That is left for you -to figure out by trial and error. +Using busybox: -Please feed patches back to: - Erik Andersen + BusyBox is extremely configurable. This allows you to include only the + components and options you need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make + config' or 'make menuconfig' to select the functionality that you wish to + enable. (See 'make help' for more commands.) + + The behavior of busybox is determined by the name it's called under: as + "cp" it behaves like cp, as "sed" it behaves like sed, and so on. Called + as "busybox" it takes the second argument as the name of the applet to + run (I.E. "./busybox ls -l /proc"). + + The "standalone shell" mode is an easy way to try out busybox; this is a + command shell that calls the builtin applets without needing them to be + installed in the path. (Note that this requires /proc to be mounted, if + testing from a boot floppy or in a chroot environment.) + + The build automatically generates a file "busybox.links", which is used by + 'make install' to create symlinks to the BusyBox binary for all compiled in + commands. Use the PREFIX environment variable to specify where to install + the busybox binary and symlink forest. (i.e., 'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install', + or 'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install-hardlinks' if you prefer hard links.) + +---------------- + +Downloading the current source code: + + Source for the latest released version, as well as daily snapshots, can always + be downloaded from + + http://busybox.net/downloads/ + + You can browse the up to the minute source code and change history online. + The "stable" series is at: + + http://www.busybox.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/branches/busybox_1_00_stable/busybox/ + + And the development series is at: + + http://www.busybox.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/trunk/busybox/ + + Anonymous SVN access is available. For instructions, check out: + + http://busybox.net/subversion.html + + For those that are actively contributing and would like to check files in, + see: + + http://busybox.net/developer.html + + The developers also have a bug and patch tracking system + (http://bugs.busybox.net) although posting a bug/patch to the mailing list + is generally a faster way of getting it fixed, and the complete archive of + what happened is the subversion changelog. + +---------------- + +getting help: + + when you find you need help, you can check out the busybox mailing list + archives at http://busybox.net/lists/busybox/ or even join + the mailing list if you are interested. + +---------------- + +bugs: + + if you find bugs, please submit a detailed bug report to the busybox mailing + list at busybox@busybox.net. a well-written bug report should include a + transcript of a shell session that demonstrates the bad behavior and enables + anyone else to duplicate the bug on their own machine. the following is such + an example: + + to: busybox@busybox.net + from: diligent@testing.linux.org + subject: /bin/date doesn't work + + package: busybox + version: 1.00 + + when i execute busybox 'date' it produces unexpected results. + with gnu date i get the following output: + + $ date + fri oct 8 14:19:41 mdt 2004 + + but when i use busybox date i get this instead: + + $ date + illegal instruction + + i am using debian unstable, kernel version 2.4.25-vrs2 on a netwinder, + and the latest uclibc from cvs. thanks for the wonderful program! + + -diligent + + note the careful description and use of examples showing not only what + busybox does, but also a counter example showing what an equivalent app + does (or pointing to the text of a relevant standard). Bug reports lacking + such detail may never be fixed... Thanks for understanding. + +---------------- + +Portability: + + Busybox is developed and tested on Linux 2.4 and 2.6 kernels, compiled + with gcc (the unit-at-a-time optimizations in version 3.4 and later are + worth upgrading to get, but older versions should work), and linked against + uClibc (0.9.27 or greater) or glibc (2.2 or greater). In such an + environment, the full set of busybox features should work, and if + anything doesn't we want to know about it so we can fix it. + + There are many other environments out there, in which busybox may build + and run just fine. We just don't test them. Since busybox consists of a + large number of more or less independent applets, portability is a question + of which features work where. Some busybox applets (such as cat and rm) are + highly portable and likely to work just about anywhere, while others (such as + insmod and losetup) require recent Linux kernels with recent C libraries. + + Earlier versions of Linux and glibc may or may not work, for any given + configuration. Linux 2.2 or earlier should mostly work (there's still + some support code in things like mount.c) but this is no longer regularly + tested, and inherently won't support certain features (such as long files + and --bind mounts). The same is true for glibc 2.0 and 2.1: expect a higher + testing and debugging burden using such old infrastructure. (The busybox + developers are not very interested in supporting these older versions, but + will probably accept small self-contained patches to fix simple problems.) + + Some environments are not recommended. Early versions of uClibc were buggy + and missing many features: upgrade. Linking against libc5 or dietlibc is + not supported and not interesting to the busybox developers. (The first is + obsolete and has no known size or feature advantages over uClibc, the second + has known bugs that its developers have actively refused to fix.) Ancient + Linux kernels (2.0.x and earlier) are similarly uninteresting. + + In theory it's possible to use Busybox under other operating systems (such as + MacOS X, Solaris, Cygwin, or the BSD Fork Du Jour). This generally involves + a different kernel and a different C library at the same time. While it + should be possible to port the majority of the code to work in one of + these environments, don't be suprised if it doesn't work out of the box. If + you're into that sort of thing, start small (selecting just a few applets) + and work your way up. + + Shaun Jackman has recently (2005) ported busybox to a combination of newlib + and libgloss, and some of his patches have been integrated. This platform + may join glibc/uclibc and Linux as a supported combination with the 1.1 + release, but is not supported in 1.0. + +Supported hardware: + + BusyBox in general will build on any architecture supported by gcc. We + support both 32 and 64 bit platforms, and both big and little endian + systems. + + Under 2.4 Linux kernels, kernel module loading was implemented in a + platform-specific manner. Busybox's insmod utility has been reported to + work under ARM, CRIS, H8/300, x86, ia64, x86_64, m68k, MIPS, PowerPC, S390, + SH3/4/5, Sparc, v850e, and x86_64. Anything else probably won't work. + + The module loading mechanism for the 2.6 kernel is much more generic, and + we believe 2.6.x kernel module loading support should work on all + architectures supported by the kernel. + +---------------- + +Please feed suggestions, bug reports, insults, and bribes back to the busybox +maintainer: + Erik Andersen +